A variety of terminal blocks are available which allow for interconnection between communication lines. In this regard, such terminal blocks are used to connect outside lines or feeder wires with inside lines or distribution wires. Some prior art terminal blocks provided interconnection by wrapping the wire, with the insulation removed, around a binding post. Cross connection to a distribution wire was made to a similar binding post coupled to the feeder wire binding post. These prior art devices functioned well but were labor intensive such that they required stripping of each of the wires and mechanical connection to the binding posts.
The prior art evolved to provide interconnection terminal blocks which include insulation displacement connectors (IDC) to simultaneously conductively terminate the wire while stripping the insulation away from the conductive wire. An inner cavity of the terminal block housing is often filled with a protective, non-conductive grease or gel which provides environmental protection for the wire engaged in the IDC clip.
Problems often arose because the end of the wire extending from the terminal block was not covered in the protective material. Therefore, the end of the wire was not protected from corrosion or other detrimental environmental effects. One way of attempting to solve this problem was to require the trades person, who installs lines using the terminal block, to position the lines with the ends inside the terminal block. This solution was somewhat unfeasible as it required extra effort on the part of the trades person and oftentimes resulted in lines which were improperly positioned within the terminal block.
Another solution to the problem relating to extending wire ends was to provide a cutoff device which cuts off the ends of the wires. While some cut off devices have served their purpose, others do not sufficiently cut the lines and tend to merely deform the line in a corresponding trough. As a result, the trades person must to clip off the line so as to not have exposed wire ends which are subjected to the detrimental environmental effects. Another disadvantage is that many of the cutoff devices require a great amount of force to operate. This is especially true in situations where more than one wire is to be cut by the cutoff device.